Air conditioning not working

[meehaneo]

Hello,

The air conditioning is not working on my 2008 XC70. I've only had it for about 9 months and I *think* it sorta worked when I got it.

But now with this blast of hot weather (here in Ireland), it is not working at all, and worse, blows hot air from both sides! I thought I might at least try and top up the refrigerant.

I was going to buy a can of R134A gas and a "gun" but discovered Halfords (motor accessories store) will do a top up for me, and its much cheaper.

However, when he connected the pressure gun, it showed 0 pressure, and he showed me that when he released a small amount of gas, the dial went up out of the red zone, but quickly returned back to 0. He said looks like a leak somewhere so the gas is not holding and it would be just a waste of money. So a good service as it saved me the cost of a can of gas!

So question is - is this something I can look at? Is there something I can check to see if seals are good? Or am I looking at a mechanic/dealer job?

Thanks all.

ps I found the low-pressure nozzle is under the windscreen wiper cowl on my Euro spec 2008 5 cyl diesel. I could undo the clips and bend it up enough to get to the nozzle without taking the wiper arm off.

[Vova585]

I doubt it will be cost effective for you to fix this issue by yourself. The best next step would be to pressure the system with nitrogen and while the system is under pressure to look around the lines for a sign of leaking(maybe old fashioned soapy water test). After the problem are woukd be found, one needs to look at the cost to bring this back to life. You probably can replace the defective part, seals in the low and high pressure ports, dryer by yourself with little tools and new o-rings everywhere. Then you will need a proper vaccuum device(i think they are cheap on amazon for about $50?) and evacuate all the air of the system. Assume the system stays under vaccuum(no leaks) and refill the system(professional aproach is better, but cans might work..all depends on price)

[meehaneo]

I tried the cannister top-up as the first thing to test, but as you've pointed out there is a lot to do after that! So off to find a good AC mechanic.

[ToyoToyo]

If the pressure drops straight back to zero the refrigerant is leaking out pretty fast, probably worth having a dye injection and UV light check to pinpoint exactly where before spending money on parts.

[abscate]

R134A sniffers are cheap, and that will let you find a leak under hood quickly.

You can sniff the outlets in the car to test the evaporator which is a pretty big under dash job. Alldata says 9.8 hours shop time